Darrell Issa: Lois Lerner's Emails May Still Exist

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said that private interviews with a top IRS official who is charged with providing documents to Congress has led him to believe that at least some of Lois Lerner’s emails are probably recoverable.

In an appearance on the Monday broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s On the Record, Issa stated, “it does appear from the interview with [IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas] Kane that in fact they didn’t destroy [all of Lois Lerner’s emails]; they didn’t overwrite them all—or, at least, they’re not sure.”

“They didn’t take our order to preserve documents… they obviously didn’t gather the documents. They didn’t take care and they are not sure if they have got tapes hanging around that contain these backups… they are not just sure what to tell us they have because they are not sure what they have yet,” Issa added about officials at the IRS. Nonetheless, he argued, “there probably are some [of Lerner’s e-mails]” that can be recovered. He also blasted the “absence of accountability” within the organization.